“You okay?” Chase asked softly. “I didn’t want you to learn this from someone else.”
She had buried any unshed tears behind her kick-ass armor. Her head snapped up, the glint of defiance in her eyes heartbreaking. “Why should I care? You married
her
. Married people have children.”
Chase sighed. He did that a lot around their girl. “Charlotte—”
“So I get the double whammy today? Jake’s found himself a woman, yours is pregnant. Thank God you can’t fire me or you’d drop the trifecta of fucked royally in my lap.” Now came the anger that Jake feared, but she seemed more hurt than truly pissed. She shrugged out of Jake’s embrace and rose from the shooting bench, arms crossed over her chest, frosty cool as she faced them. “I suppose you’ll still want me to go to England?”
Chase nodded, all boss in the blink of an eye. “I think Jake would appreciate you being on the movie set to watch over Aaron and Celia.”
Yes, it would make Jake very appreciative. Aaron was soon to be on location for some fantasy film with horses and castles, medieval but set in the future. Jake didn’t get it, but Aaron had been excited about the role.
Celia Shaw, Aaron’s co-star, had been in the crosshairs of the agency since the beginning of last year. Her husband was the son of a senator and dealt in sinister things. Celia wasn’t squeaky clean, either, and for some reason, her doings set off Chase’s sixth sense. Chase was rarely wrong, so Jake went along with it all.
“Do you think Aaron is involved?” she asked.
“No, but Celia has been interested in him, and we’re not sure why besides her being a two-timing whore and Aaron being…Aaron. She’s made a few connections and has arranged a few meetings that have tossed red flags all over the place. Jake doesn’t need his brother messed up in that nonsense.”
She lifted her chin, all regal defiance. “Then going to England will be a breath of fresh air. I won’t have to fake an accent.” Her tone implied that she wouldn’t have to deal with them, either.
“There’s no need to be pissy, Char,” Chase said with disapproval. But then his face softened. “You know I love you, sweetheart, but I can’t change what happened to you. And yeah, I fucked up with Kate, but I can’t…” He blew out a deep breath. “I can’t not move forward with my life because of your past.” He glanced at Jake and corrected, “
We
can’t not move forward.”
She closed her eyes, and for a brief moment, the depth of sadness she carried with her every day oozed out around the armor. The dragon defiance crumbled. “I’m sorry.”
“We know you are. Come here,” Chase ordered softly. She slunk to Chase, and this time, Jake rose to hug her, too, his arm wrapped between Chase’s body and hers, the three of them intertwined. This was what Tia would have a hard time understanding, something Kate still didn’t get, how they could love Charlotte this fiercely and not be romantically involved.
But this time, Charlotte buried her face against Jake’s shirt as she whispered, “I’ve been rude. You are my boys, and I should be thrilled you’ve found women who are either brave enough or stupid enough to put up with you both. It…it hurts, though. It hurts so much.”
“We know,” they said at the same time, and it often freaked Jake out that they thought on the same wavelength when it came to Charlotte. Most of the time.
She looked up at Chase. “Promise me you’ll move on my endgame? You’ll let me put the past to rest?”
Jake met Chase’s gaze over her head, his buddy’s brown eyes echoing his own fear. She wanted to face the motherfuckers who took everything from her. She wanted revenge, knowing it was suicidal.
The fact that she’d remind them of this, now, bespoke deeper pain than either of them realized. They’d thought her happy enough, marking time, working, being busy. But the fact that her two men were settling down rattled her. Maybe their jealous dragon queen yearned for a mate of her own, only she was too scared to admit it.
“Sweetheart, we’re doing everything we can,” Jake reminded, though it was a lie. They were doing everything they could to keep her busy, out of harm’s way. Granted, their brand of busy was deadly work, but it was safer than facing the motherfuckers.
“We’ll move when it’s time,” Chase agreed. The look he shot Jake said that time would come over his dead body.
Charlotte returned her cheek to Jake’s chest, and he felt her hard swallow through his sternum. “Jacob? Try not to knock this woman of yours up too soon, okay? I don’t think I can handle two babies at the same time. Promise me?”
Jake met Chase’s gaze again with a half of a sad smile and Chase glared. If only Charlotte knew how planned Kate’s pregnancy had been. “I promise.”
She looked up at Chase. “And you. Warn Kate that I’ll do my best, but this will be hard. I haven’t dealt with a pregnant woman since…you know. It’s nothing personal. As badly as I hate to admit it…she’s not so bad.”
Chase chuckled and hugged her closer. “High praise from the dragon queen.”
Jake met Chase’s gaze again and saw relief that echoed his. It meant so much to them for Charlotte to accept their changes, their women. So hard to ask of someone so sad and lonely, despite having two men who loved her.
But theirs wasn’t the love Charlotte needed to move on. She needed toe-curling, heart pounding, life-affirming love, the kind you’d ride a bull for or leap from a plane for or… He had no clue what Charlotte would do to catch a man’s eye, but that was the kind of love she needed to make her forget her plans for suicidal missions and her need to die.
Jake made a vow to find someone for Charlotte to love. Chase wouldn’t like that, being the possessive one, but Jake liked the idea enough to decide that Charlotte needed a hot fuck and some living that had nothing to do with work and motherfuckers.
Charlotte glanced up at Chase. “Tell me you’ll feed me. I’m starving.”
“I don’t have enough food to feed a starving dragon queen.” Chase sighed, and they untangled themselves from their embrace. He methodically began cleaning up bullet casings, making everything neat again. “What did you do with Steve?”
“He went to that club of yours,” she said with deep distaste, taking a box of ammo from Chase. “Tried to get me to join him. Thank fuck he was on the phone and not in person or I would have shot him.”
“Maybe that’s why he tried to lure you downtown on the phone,” Jake observed. He would have to look farther than Steve to satisfy Charlotte’s need for love and affection. “Can’t fault the man for trying.”
“I’ll kill any man who tries,” she vowed. “I have an endgame. Women on an endgame path do not need to be fucked and then cuddled.”
“We just cuddled you,” Chase reminded her softly with a smile.
She glared. “Because I let you. You boys are softer than women, needing cuddling and hugs from me all the time. I put up with it so you’ll shut up and leave me alone.” She huffed. “Maybe it’s good you both have women of your own now. Less hugging I’ll have to put up with.”
Jake sighed, and they headed back to the house. A man befitting of the dragon queen’s love would have to be really strong or borderline insane. But somehow, he’d find her a love of her own. And he prayed she wouldn’t kill the poor guy.
****
Jake, Chase, and Charlotte entered the house through the mud room. Jake was feeling pretty optimistic and couldn’t wait to see how Tia had faired with Kate. The bonding time had been enough to ensure they would eventually have a friendship again, and Charlotte had taken the news of the baby quite well. All would be good
if
he could convince Tia that Monday didn’t need to change anything.
“Kate?” Chase called as he unloaded his new rifle. “You think they killed each other?”
“I hope they’re in bed,” Jake said as he kicked the dirt from his boots. The thought of both Kate and Tia in bed together was almost too much for him to handle. So beautiful, Kate all blonde, Tia smaller, darker, so exotic. He loved a good fantasy. Girl on girl was even better.
“Perverts.” Charlotte snorted with disgust.
“Kate?” Chase frowned and took a step, and then put his hand to Jake’s chest. He put a finger to his lips and pointed down. A few droplets of blood dotted the white marble tile in the kitchen. Jake’s heart leapt to his throat, hammering at a mile a minute. Blood was never good. Chase reloaded the rifle while Jake and Charlotte pulled and readied their handguns.
On Chase’s nod, they moved. The three systematically entered each room, Jake feeling surreal having to clear his best friend’s home. Maybe they were upstairs, maybe they couldn’t hear… The house was eerily silent, the only noise being Chase’s soft, “clear,” as they finished a room. The number of rooms dwindled, and the panic Jake held at bay grew to a thundering head.
Finally, the last area was the basement, and Chase led the way. They cleared that room, and there was nothing left other than the truth—the women were gone. The blood on the floor didn’t bode well for a shopping trip.
“Fuck,” Chase whispered.
Jake echoed that. “So where do we go from here?”
“Guns. We need guns.” Chase strode to the room in the finished basement he used to store his gun collection and unlocked it with a code on a keypad. Charlotte and Jake followed through the door Chase had opened, and Jake scanned the small room. Guns of all types lined the walls, some on racks, others in cases on shelves. Rifles, pistols, some antique, some new. All deadly.
“We don’t know what we’re up against,” Jake reminded.
“Guns always help.” Chase grabbed the hard case of the shelf that held his modified .308, the rifle he used for accuracy. Sniping off rooftops, at a distance. He opened the case, and sucked in a breath. Jake leaned in—a white envelope sat on top of the gun, lettered LOTS. Chase looked at Jake. “Lord of the Spies.”
“Kate.”
Chase tore it open and read it, then closed his eyes for a moment. Jake had never seen him look more terrified, his face paler than the paper he held.
“Jesus, what did she do?”
Chase handed Jake the letter, and Charlotte read over his shoulder.
I’m so sorry, because if you’re reading this, then I really fucked up. I lied about being tailed. That’s why I rigged the house with surveillance equipment. I also put a GPS chip in the locket you gave me. The program to activate it is loaded into the work laptop—directions in a file labeled GPS. If you can’t understand it, call Steve. He knows about the program. You should be able to find me if he decides to take me hostage. I don’t know who he is, or why he wants me, but it’s the nature of the business, I guess. Game over—he won.
I thought I could handle this. I thought I didn’t need to be under your thumb 24/7. If you’re reading this because I’m gone, then I was definitely wrong.
If you’re reading this because you feel like sniping someone else, then you’re a jerk.
But I love you anyway.
TNT.
“Your woman is fucking crazy,” Charlotte observed, but her tone was more impressed than pissed or afraid.
Jake stared at the letter, then at Chase, who stood statue still. “I’ll get the laptop and call Steve for backup. Charlotte, you run her security footage.”
Charlotte nodded and went to do as ordered.
Chase stared at the gun, his face so emotionless. Jake had never seen him freeze like this before. It was as if he didn’t know what to do, and the man knew more than anyone. Jake slapped him on the back, needing him to start moving the mountains to bring home their women. He didn’t dare let fear in, because his mind would be filled with all of the horrible things men did to pretty girl spies. And his women weren’t suffering that, not on his watch.
“We’ll get them back, Chase. She fucked up, but at least she was smart enough to cover her ass. She left you enough to find her.”
“They could be dead already.”
“You have to believe that Kate knows her stuff. Tia is smart, she’s cunning, and she has a lot of experience under her belt. She’ll keep Kate out of trouble if she can, for the sake of the baby if nothing else.”
Jake realized with a start that he liked that about Tia—he didn’t have that driving need to protect her, like he did Kate. Sexually, yes. But not here, in a work capacity. And though a part of him thought it was wrong not to want to protect the woman he loved, a part of him said it was just right. He was scared as hell for both of them, terrified he would lose Tia, that he’d never see her again, hold her again. But his girl was a scrapper. She didn’t get this far in life with a set of wimpy balls. And he wouldn’t have her any other way.
If she did die, his only regret would be that she never believed that he loved her.
Chapter Nineteen
Tia came to with a start, realizing she was tied to a chair, facing a stove in a dirty apartment. The sun was just starting to come up by the shadows on the wall, and hell if she wasn’t surprised that she was still alive.
Blondie
. Tia looked around and found Kate on her left, bound to a chair. Damn it, the bitch made bondage look good, the ropes crisscrossing her body, accentuating her breasts, her waist. Her hair was loose now, shoulder length with not a snarl. The younger woman took in a deep breath, her eyes closed, her face white but calm. Fearless, even.
“Blondie, why didn’t you run when I told you to?” Tia couldn’t believe the bitch didn’t run. She could have saved herself. But no, Blondie had to protect Tia instead. Stupid blonde.
“You’ve come to?” Blondie faced straight ahead, eyes still closed looking way too peaceful for a hostage situation.
“No, I’m cursing you from unconsciousness. What happened?”
“He knocked you out. I had to wait until he had his knife clear of your throat to run. But he jumped me and I went down. He knocked me out, too. And here we are.”
“Lovely. You know where he went?”
“No. I’ve been awake for a while, though.” Blondie shifted as much as the ropes would allow and opened her eyes to glance at Tia. “I think he used some chemical to knock us out longer, though. I don’t feel so good.”
Tia rolled her eyes. Of course he used something. She tasted inside her mouth. From the slight sweetness, she guessed plain old chloroform. “Didn’t they do that to you as practice? So you’d know what it was like, and so you’d know how to use it yourself?”